“Between Truth and Power: The Role of Authors in Building and Changing Europe” conference to take place in Riga

The conference will feature internationally renowned writers, historians and researchers in the fields of politics, culture and literature: Vita Matīsa (USA/Latvia), Mārtiņš Kaprāns (Latvia), Eva-Eglāja Kristsone (Latvia), Jaan Undusk (Estonia), Sofi Oksanen (Finland), Larry Wolff (USA), Victor Erofeev (Russia) and others. They will discuss the different roles of writers in 20th and 21st century history, as well as the mission of a writer in the global and digital world. They will also share their thoughts on their own relationship with power and how the written word shapes the myths and identities of modern history.

Politicians are also nowadays exploiting literature and outstanding writers not just to strengthen “noble values”, but also to manipulate, intimidate and antagonise. Sometimes, writers become activists and opinion leaders on their own initiative, but very often their names are arbitrarily used post-mortem as emblems and brands.

At the same time we have to take into account the different reading patterns of the 21st-century generation. What will be the role of writers in the future? Who will write stories about us and how will they write these? How will they describe what it is to be Latvian and what Europe is?

The organisers of the conference asked a number of Latvian authors (among them Jānis Rokpelnis, Ieva Melgalve, Jānis Joņevs, Nora Ikstena, Igors Šuvajevs and Nils Sakss) to write an essay related to the conference motto “Europe’s new narrative: Who will write it?”. The essays (in Latvian) are available on the website of the Punctum magazine.

The conference is organised by the NLL in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It is part of the Latvian EU Council cultural programme which has contemporaneity, uniqueness and excellence as its core values.

More information about the conference programme and participants, as well as the registration form is available on www.truthandpower.lv. 

Registration for participating in the conference is open until 16:00 on 29 April. Registration is compulsory.

Note for the media: to attend the conference, please register.